Hi! I'm 6 days post op from sleeve and was wondering... What's the reason for the food stages? Is it to prevent dumping? To protect new sleeve?

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Your throat, stomach, etc are all very swollen and sensitive. Your stomach is stapled top to bottom. The reason for the food stages is so you can heal and not get sick (vomiting could cause a complication), have an obstruction, get a piece of food caught in staple, cause a leak, etc. As you heal - you can advance to different stages. Dumping is not common with the sleeve.

Thanks for the info!

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Not all surgeons have as strict of stages. After hospital discharge I had no liquid stage. I was (on plan) eating yogurt and cottage cheese 3 days post op, scrambled eggs, ground beef, Beans, etc 4 or 5 days post op, and professed quickly from there to no restrictions on texture. I had no nausea, vomiting, stomach pain or any other complications. I'm down 111 pounds and approaching 11 months post op, and 9 pounds to goal.

I don't share this to encourage anyone to not follow their surgeons plan- I absolutely believe everyone should follow their instructions as given. I just find it very interesting how varied post op plans are, from what I followed to 3 solid weeks of liquids immediately post op.

Good luck to you in your journey!!

Retrain your stomach, essentially. You want to baby it since it's been under the knife. Some foods will not be tolerated like they were before so the stages help by allowing healing in between courser foods AND assisting you in slowing down reintroduction of foods that may or may not still make your tummy happy.

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@@ttdish Was it uncomfortable for you to go to those types of foods right away? I have had slight discomfort with just Protein shakes. I go to stage three this week and wonder what more solid foods are going to feel like.

@@ttdish Was it uncomfortable for you to go to those types of foods right away? I have had slight discomfort with just Protein shakes. I go to stage three this week and wonder what more solid foods are going to feel like.

Not at all. Immediately post-op (after discharge, so day 3) I was allowed up to two ounces of any soft protein (cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, yogurt, refried Beans with cheese, etc) three times per day, plus Protein Shakes. It was tiny portions, and I generally could only eat about half. I would set a timer for one minute between bites and chew chew chew! I was also supposed to eat whatever I comfortably could out of the two oz portion within 30 minutes, then stop. My stages progressed from there, but as you can see, to liquids, no purees, etc.

It's interesting for me to hear stories about people who "cheat" and jump stages, saying, "I ate refried beans while on Clear Liquids, and it made me so sick!" I think the reason I never got sick or felt uncomfortable is because I didn't have a huge period of time post op with no real food. It's a different approach than most surgeons take, but it worked for me!

@@ttdish, my surgeon's nurse said 5 days of Protein n Water then pureed food. I have been on regular food for a cpl days just minute portions lol. Did you gain cause I'm gaining n worried

☆Jeni☆

@@ttdish, my surgeon's nurse said 5 days of Protein n Water then pureed food. I have been on regular food for a cpl days just minute portions lol. Did you gain cause I'm gaining n worried

☆Jeni☆

I think a lot of people have a small gain when they start solids. I promised myself that I wouldn't weigh myself until a week post op (or more, I don't remember) to account for extra weight from IV fluids. BUT... This early out, I wouldn't be worried. You WILL lose. Your body is in a WTF are you doing to me stage, lol. It will catch up when it figures out you aren't starving it.

Thank you, I'm just freaking out I guess. Thinking that this won't work for me

☆Jeni☆

Give it time. I had the same worries a year ago